Born in Texas, Jones first heard country music when he was seven, and was given a guitar at the age of nine. He married his first wife, Dorothy Bonvillion, in 1950, and was divorced in 1951. He served in the United States Marine Corps and was discharged in 1953. He married Shirley Ann Corley in 1954. In 1959, Jones recorded "White Lightning", written by J. P. Richardson, which launched his career as a singer. His second marriage ended in divorce in 1968; he married fellow country music singer Tammy Wynette a year later. Years of alcoholism compromised his health and led to his missing many performances, earning him the nickname "No Show Jones". After his divorce from Wynette in 1975, Jones married his fourth wife, Nancy Sepulvado, in 1983 and became sober for good in 1999. Jones died in 2013, aged 81, from hypoxic respiratory failure.
George Jones has been called "The Rolls Royce Of Country Music" and had more than 160 chart singles to his name from 1955 until his death in 2013. Johnny Cash once said, "When people ask me who my favorite country singer is, I say, 'You mean besides George Jones?'"
Jones tirelessly defended the integrity of country music, telling Billboard in 2006, "It's never been for love of money. I thank God for it because it makes me a living. But I sing because I love it, not because of the dollar signs." Jones also went out of his way to promote younger country singers that he felt were as passionate about the music as he was. "Everybody knows he's a great singer," Alan Jackson stated in 1995, "but what I like most about George is that when you meet him, he is like some old guy that works down at the gas station...even though he's a legend!"
Shortly after Jones' death, Andrew Mueller wrote about his influence in Uncut, "He was one of the finest interpretive singers who ever lifted a microphone...There cannot be a single country songwriter of the last 50-odd years who has not wondered what it might be like to hear their words sung by that voice." In an article for The Texas Monthly in 1994, Nick Tosches eloquently described the singer's vocal style: "While he and his idol, Hank Williams, have both affected generations with a plaintive veracity of voice that has set them apart, Jones has an additional giftโa voice of exceptional range, natural elegance, and lucent tone. Gliding toward high tenor, plunging toward deep bass, the magisterial portamento of his onward-coursing baritone emits white-hot sparks and torrents of blue, investing his poison love songs with a tragic gravity and inflaming his celebrations of the honky-tonk ethos with the hellfire of abandon." In the New Republic essay "Why George Jones ranks with Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday," David Hajdu writes:
"Jones had a handsome and strange voice. His singing was always partly about the appeal of the tones he produced, regardless of the meaning of the words. In this sense, Jones had something in common with singers of formal music and opera, though his means of vocal production were radically different from theirs. He sang from the back of his throat, rather than from deep in his diaphragm. He tightened his larynx to squeeze sound out. He clenched his jaw, instead of wriggling it free. He forced wind through his teeth, and the notes sounded weirdly beautiful."
David Cantwell recalled in 2013, "His approach to singing, he told me once, was to call up those memories and feelings of his own that most closely corresponded to those being felt by the character in whatever song he was performing. He was a kind of singing method actor, creating an illusion of the real." In the liner notes to Essential George Jones: The Spirit of Country Rich Kienzle states, "Jones sings of people and stories that are achingly human. He can turn a ballad into a catharsis by wringing every possible emotion from it, making it a primal, strangled cry of anguish". In 1994, country music historian Colin Escott pronounced, "Contemporary country music is virtually founded on reverence for George Jones. Walk through a room of country singers and conduct a quick poll, George nearly always tops it." In the wake of Jones's death, Merle Haggard pronounced in Rolling Stone, "His voice was like a Stradivarius violin: one of the greatest instruments ever made." Emmylou Harris wrote, "when you hear George Jones sing, you are hearing a man who takes a song and makes it a work of art - always," a quote that appeared on the sleeve of Jones' 1976 album The Battle. In the documentary Same Ole Me, several country music stars offer similar thoughts. Randy Travis: "It sounds like he's lived every minute of every word that he sings and there's very few people who can do that"; Tom T. Hall: "It was always Jones who got the message across just right"; and Roy Acuff: "I'd give anything if I could sing like George Jones". In the same film, producer Billy Sherrill states, "All I did was change the instrumentation around him. I don't think he's changed at all."
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed George Jones among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
Mansion on the Hill
George Jones Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As I sit here alone in my cabin I can see your mansion on the hill
Do you recall when we parted the story to me you revealed
You said you could live without love dear in your loveless mansion on the hill
I've waited all through the years love to give you a heart true and real
`Cause I know you're living in sorrow in your loveless mansion on the hill
The light shines bright from your window the trees stand so silent and still
The song "Mansion on the Hill" by George Jones revolves around a person who is feeling lonely and nostalgic. He is situated in the valley and reminiscing about his past. The song begins with him expressing how lonesome he feels sitting alone in his cabin while looking at his lost love's mansion on the hill. His thoughts drift back to the moment when they parted ways, and she had revealed to him that she could live without love in her loveless mansion on the hill. The lyrics imply that the girl's pride and stubbornness have led to her living alone and in misery in her mansion. The singer expresses how he has waited for years to give her a heart true and real, which hints that he is still in love with her.
As the song progresses, the singer describes the surroundings of the mansion; the light shining bright through the windows, the silent and still trees, and how he knows that the girl is alone with her pride in her mansion. Despite the outward appearance of luxury and comfort, the mansion represents a loveless house filled with misery, and the singer laments how his love is living in sorrow. The song concludes with the singer wishing to be with his lost love and announcing that he would bring her out of her loveless mansion on the hill.
Overall, the song explores how sometimes, pride and stubbornness can lead to a loveless life of misery, despite the outward luxurious appearances. It emphasizes the importance of love and companionship in life.
Line by Line Meaning
Tonight down here in the valley I'm lonesome and oh how I feel
Currently isolated and desolate, I feel lonely in this low-lying area
As I sit here alone in my cabin I can see your mansion on the hill
While being lonely in my hut, I can see your opulent mansion on top of the hill
Do you recall when we parted the story to me you revealed
During our separation, you confessed something to me
You said you could live without love dear in your loveless mansion on the hill
You acknowledged that you could survive without affection in your loveless castle on the hill
I've waited all through the years love to give you a heart true and real
For many years, I've been waiting to give you a genuine and sincere heart
`Cause I know you're living in sorrow in your loveless mansion on the hill
Because I'm aware that you're living in anguish within your loveless estate on top of the hill
The light shines bright from your window the trees stand so silent and still
The light is shining brightly from your window, while the trees remain quiet and motionless
And I know you're alone with your pride dear in your loveless mansion on the hill
And I'm aware that you're by yourself with your ego, in your loveless castle on top of the hill
Lyrics ยฉ Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: NEIL YOUNG
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Ima SuperPerson
This is one of the songs that changed George's career. They (producers) told him to stop trying to imitate Hank Sr - and he did. Once he developed his own style, it was history. But Hank was always George's hero, and you can dang sure here it in this song. Heck, George couldn't mess up a song if he tried. :)
Ron Stopfer
Ima SuperPerson George once said the three top country singers of his were Hank, Lefty (Frizzell), and Roy Acuff.
Jon Perala
Sends chills down my spine. One of the greatest American singers of all time.
Kevin Whitty
My favorite song by hank Williams! George does it justice too.
skeetabix36
Love it !! Hank n George are legends of country music. Straight to the heart. 5+
soulsurfdog
I'd love to see more of this kind of country music come back, along with the Constitution. Great stuff. Makes me miss my granddad. RIP
Blaine7555
When Heorge Jones sings it's pour gold . I don't know what else to say he says it all. GREAT
Liam Owens
I met him in Toronto in 1969 at the O' Keefe centre. Brill.
Burt Bowers
NO COUNTRY LEGENDS AS GEORGE & TAMMY CAN EVER BE REPLACED WITH TODAYS COUNTRY MUSIC IT JUST WILL NEVER GET BETTER THAN THIS....
Rosalee Adams
I saw her perform at Wolf Trap...Johnny and June were there also
it was magic